


one more time

by overyourcorpse



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Established Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-26 10:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17744000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overyourcorpse/pseuds/overyourcorpse
Summary: “I’m sorry, really, but what joke?”For a second he thinks Jeff is still making fun of him.“You know, the one were you guys keep calling Zimms and Bits my boyfriends.”





	one more time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Effyeahzimbits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Effyeahzimbits/gifts).



Kent had tried to stop his team, he swears he had tried. But now, standing on the ice right next to Jack, he wishes he had tried harder.

For the first time since he became captain he is kinda glad, that Carl is arguing with someone and this close to dropping his gloves. He is pretty sure he couldn’t unfreeze right now, even if it would cost them the game.

He tries not to look at Jack, as he shoves Swoops away.

“Haha, funny joke,” he chokes out, when he gets a weird look from Swoops. He should have tried harder.

\- - -

They don’t lose the game, but it’s a close one. The Falconers had chased them into a shoot-out, and Kent is 90% sure that letting Swoops take the shot, instead of doing it himself, is what saved them.

“You’re gonna tell me what’s going on, Parse?” Swoops pushes off the wall, when Kent steps out of the locker room, and falls into step next to him.

“Nothing,” Kent sighs, “just…don’t make that joke anymore, please.”

It’s probably the ‘please’ that finally makes it across to his thick-headed friend, because Swoops grabs his arm, as he comes to a stop.

“I’m sorry, really, but what joke?”

For a second he thinks Jeff is still making fun of him and teasing him about his crush, but then he sees the confusion.

“You know, the one were you guys keep calling Zimms and Bits my boyfriends.” Kent blinks the sudden tears away. Fuck, he didn’t want to talk about this. “It’s okay in the locker room, but please don’t say stuff like that where they could hear? I don’t want them to misunderstand.”

Kent starts walking down the hall again and it doesn’t even take two seconds until Swoops is next to him.

“You’re not dating either Jack or Eric,” he states, as if he’d just realized it.

“Right.”

“They are not your boyfriends.”

“YES,” Kent finally shouts. “They are not my boyfriends. And I have like…this crush, so you’ve all been making fun of me.”

“We’ve been making fun of you,” Swoops slowly says, and Kent can hear a quiet ‘oh’. “You are right, we’ve been making fun of you. But not like that! We really thought you guys were together.”

“I told you, that they’re not my boyfriends,” Kent hisses. “Multiple times even!”

“Oh, we thought it was like…hush hush. That’s why you kept saying it.” For the first time Swoops looks actually regretful. “And you were always blushing so much, and like…”

He makes some complicated gestures with his hand, that Kent interprets as ‘obviously in love with them’, so he feels justified in saying it out loud for the first time.

“Because I’m stupidly in love with them, not because we’re actually together!”

He makes the mistake of finally looking where he goes, instead of just staring at the floor or Swoops, and he desperately wants to turn around. They arrived at his car. At his car, where Jack is leaning, obviously having heard at least the last minute of their conversation.

This is even worse, than the thing he had overheard on the ice, and Kent want to kill his whole team for putting him in this position.

“Hey Kent,” Jack says, before he can say anything himself. “Bittle and I wanted to come over tonight, if that’s okay? We’ll bring pie! Okay? Okay.”

And with that he is gone, Kent dumbly nodding at the empty space he left.

“Dude,” Swoops exclaims, while he walks backwards with wide eyes. “I am so sorry. Super sorry. Good luck though, haha!”

Swoops runs away, before Kent can say anything.

\- - -

Kent is pacing and he knows it. Jack and Bitty are late and he is getting more nervous with each passing minute. Normally after a game they would be here already, so Kent can only imagine what’s going on right now.

Jack is probably telling Bitty everything. They’ll get angry. It’ll be the last time he’ll see them outside of games. Friendship over.

Shit, he just wants this over with, so he can cry in peace and cuddle Kit and probably never move on, but whatever. Just ripping off the band-aid. But then again, he wants to savor the last moments; he really doesn’t want it to end and…

The doorbell interrupts his pacing, and without the time to change his shirt for a fifth time, he opens the door in a dress shirt. What a great start.

“Hey guys, come one in!”

He really hope he doesn’t sound as manic as he feels.

“Hi Kent,” Bitty smiles at him, more than he expected, and then suddenly kisses his cheek as he makes a beeline to the kitchen. “I’ll just put this down, before I undress.” He calls over his back to them.

Kent opens his mouth to say something, but he can’t stop gaping, so he just stares at Jack with wide eyes. Who doesn’t look angry at all. Not even a little scandalized.

He just says, “Sorry we’re late, Kenny” and comes up to hug him.

What. is. going. on.

He doesn’t realize he said it out loud, until Bitty comes back without his coat on, and ushers him to his own couch.

“Just sit down, sweetie, we only want to talk. Nothing bad, I promise.”

Bitty talking calms him down a bit, so he does as he’s told and waits for them to return. He’ll just explain and hope for the best, he tells himself.

“So,” Bitty sits down next to him on the couch, while Jack hovers at his shoulder until Bitty points to the empty seat on his other side. “Jack told me, that your whole team thinks you are dating us?”

“I’m sorry,” Kent blurts and shuffles to make the gap between them wider. “I didn’t…”

“It’s okay,” Jack interrupts. “Just– please listen!”

“Right,” Bitty picks up again. “The thing is just, we thought you weren’t interested in us like that. We’ve been trying to date you…since your last birthday probably. And every time we tried to say or hint at something, you just closed off. So…”

Bitty shrugs, but Kent can suddenly see that just the thought makes him look smaller. And then the rest catches up with him, and his heart is a thunderous storm. His ears are ringing and he nearly misses it, when Jack starts talking.

“So is it true, what you said? That you love us?”

And Kent hears the emphasis on the ‘us’ he’s not that stupid. So he shuts his eyes for a second, tries to calm his beating heart, and takes Jack’s and Bitty’s hands in his.

“Yeah,” he croaks, “I’m in love with you. Both of you. And I really want to date you.”

Bitty’s smile is blinding, and Kent can’t believe that he’s the reason. And then suddenly Jack’s face is in his neck and he’s mumbling words Kent can’t understand, but he can feel the sudden wetness.

“Kent Parson, do you want to go on a date with us?” Bitty asks, his smile still betraying his serious tone.

And Kent can merely say “yeah”, before he too starts crying. He is just so relieved and he feels like he could fly.

“Tomorrow?” Jack asks, finally coming up from his neck again.

“Yeah,” Kent feels like a broken record, but he can’t stop smiling and saying yes.

“But we can still stay tonight?”

Kent wipes a tear from Jack’s face and holds Bitty’s hand even harder.

“Yes.” He says one more time.


End file.
